Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (MAS)
Sydney Memory and Ageing Study
Longitudinal UNSW cohort of 1,037 non-demented adults aged 70 to 90 from Eastern Sydney, with 3 T MRI (T1w, FLAIR, SWI) in about half. Data are released through Dementias Platform Australia after an approved application.
Overview
The Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (MAS) is a longitudinal cohort run by the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at UNSW Sydney. It started in 2005 to measure how often mild cognitive impairment and dementia arise in older Australians and what predicts cognitive decline. Participants were assessed every two years over 14 years with cognitive, medical, blood, genetic and imaging measures. Researchers apply for the data through Dementias Platform Australia (DPAU).
Composition
At baseline the cohort held 1,037 community-dwelling adults without dementia, aged 70 to 90, drawn at random from the electoral roll in two areas of Eastern Sydney. About a third met criteria for mild cognitive impairment at baseline. Structural MRI was done in 554 participants at baseline, and subgroups also had functional MRI. A later analysis used MRI from 605 participants with scans at baseline, 2-year or 6-year follow-up. DPAU lists MRI-derived measures (white matter hyperintensities, cortical and subcortical volumes, diffusion indices, microbleeds) and raw MRI as data that can be requested.
Acquisition
Baseline MRI was acquired on two Philips 3 T scanners (Intera Quasar and Achieva Quasar Dual) with matched T1w (1 mm isotropic) and FLAIR protocols; follow-up scans used the Achieva Quasar Dual. The SWI sequence used for microbleed work on that scanner has TR 25.33 ms, TE 40.33 ms and 1.1 mm slices.
Annotations
Hassanzadeh et al. (2025) had two radiologists independently mark cerebral microbleeds on 30 MAS SWI scans, finding 60 microbleeds. DPAU lists a microbleed data category for MAS; whether it includes these labels is not stated.
Known limitations
- The number of participants with MRI or SWI at each wave is not published as a single table.
- Raw MRI is provided only after consultation with the CHeBA imaging team; DPAU's analysis environment is meant for tabular data, and data cannot be downloaded from it.
- Access costs an application fee and is limited to an approved project.
- The 2025 paper calls the SWI subset confidential, so the microbleed labels may not be available.
Cohort
Aggregate numbers from the sources below. Bars are relative to the 1,037 subjects.
Modality
subjects
- MRI 554 53%
Contrast / sequence
scans, values can overlap
- Susceptibility-weighted 30
Country
subjects
- Australia 1,037 100%
License and access
Our reading of the license, not legal advice. Before you use the data, read the original license and confirm that your use is allowed. We take no responsibility for how you use a dataset. Full disclaimer
A research proposal is reviewed and approved
Dementias Platform Australia (DPAU) Data Access Agreement
Access for bona fide researchers to the cohorts hosted by Dementias Platform Australia at UNSW, after an application reviewed by DPAU and each contributing study, with ethics approval and fees. Data may be used only for the approved project, normally inside the DPAU analysis environment, may not be copied or distributed, and results may be used for commercial gain only with approval of every contributing study. Publications go to DPAU and the studies 30 working days before submission.
Application fees apply. Raw MRI is requested in consultation with the CHeBA imaging team; the DPAU analysis environment is built for tabular data, not raw imaging.
What you can do
- Conditional
- Not stated
- Conditional
- Conditional
What you can share
- No
- Conditional
- Share trained models Not stated
What you must do
- Yes
- Share alike No
- Yes
- Conditional
- Yes
- Conditional
- Conditional
- Conditional
Limits
- Yes
- No
Commercial license: Not stated No commercial license offer is published. Commercial gain from results needs approval from every contributing study.
Citation
Sachdev PS, Brodaty H, Reppermund S, et al. The Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (MAS): methodology and baseline medical and neuropsychiatric characteristics of an elderly epidemiological non-demented cohort of Australians aged 70-90 years. International Psychogeriatrics 22(8), 1248-1264 (2010). doi:10.1017/S1041610210001067
All numbers
Every number on this page, as stored in stats.csv, with its source.
| Measure | Breakdown | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects | total baseline cohort of non-demented community-dwelling adults | 1,037 | sachdev2010 Abstract |
| Subjects | country=AU recruited from two areas of Sydney | 1,037 | sachdev2010 Abstract |
| Subjects | modality=MR structural MRI at baseline; the CHeBA page says roughly half of the cohort had structural MRI | 554 | sachdev2010 Abstract |
| Scans | contrast=swi only the subset with cerebral microbleed labels (60 microbleeds); the number of SWI scans in the whole cohort is not published | 30 | hassanzadeh2025 Section 3.1.3 |
| Minimum age | total age at baseline | 70 | sachdev2010 Abstract |
| Maximum age | total age at baseline | 90 | sachdev2010 Abstract |
Sources
The keys used in the table above.
- sachdev2010 Sachdev et al. 2010, International Psychogeriatrics (MAS methodology and baseline) paper
- cheba-mas-page Sydney Memory and Ageing Study page, CHeBA, UNSW website
- alqarni2023 Alqarni et al. 2023, sex differences in 6-year WMH progression in MAS (arXiv preprint) paper
- hassanzadeh2025 Hassanzadeh et al. 2025, NeuroImage Clinical, cerebral microbleed recognition in GRE and SWI (PMC12410576) paper
- dpau-application-guidance DPAU data access application guidance (May 2026), lists the MAS data categories website